Hello from Rome! We were invited to join our Bishop and his family for a traditional Italian dinner! We had Polenta, which is a creamy cornmeal, topped with a meat sauce that has been cooked all day. There were 18 people eating dinner together in their tiny apartment! When the family has Polenta for dinner, they pour it out onto a large wooden board (pictured above) and everyone eats from the board!
We were each given a wooden plank (a little more sanitary), which was first covered in olive oil! The meat sauce was made with tomatoes and sausage and other yummy things, and then it was covered with parmigiano cheese.
Our bishop has five boys and one baby girl! They are a wonderful family! Bishop Celestini shared his conversion story with us! He was eleven years old and Italy hired him to be a professional soccer player! He was paid very well! After playing for many years, when he was about 21 years old he was asked to play on a church team and injured his knee. The doctor told him he would never walk again! He was so upset! He was helping to support his family.....and now he was going to lose this great opportunity.
Bishop Celestini had to have serious surgery on his knee. He was on crutches for a very long time! He was starting to wonder why something like this could happen to him! He started to question the church and his testimony started to waver! Finally, he decided to pray, so he went to a park with a grove of trees. He stayed there all day. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed. He asked Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was really true. He received a wonderful answer and he felt the Holy Ghost very strongly! He was blessed with the ability to walk again, but he was never able to play soccer again.
We have really enjoyed getting to know so many wonderful people and learning about their personal conversion stories!
This is Brother and Sister Lushin. Brother Lushin is the architect for the Rome Temple! The Rome Temple site is only about 10 minutes from our apartment! Sister Lushin grew up in La Mirada, California, and knows a lot of our friends and family!
The kids loved the Polenta too!
This is the Polenta being served onto the wooden plank.
We had a wonderful evening and we really enjoyed the company and the food!
Love, Larry and Lynne
Mmmm, sounds amazing! I had polenta once with marinara sauce on it and it was really, really good. We love the pictures and Leyna says she likes your post. Thank you for sharing the Bishops neat conversion story too...we love to hear those! Love you and Happy New Year in Rome!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a 100% Italian family. Dad was Toscano and Mom was Calabrese. I remember eating polenta with baccala as a kid! My parents have since left this earth but your blog has brought back SO MANY WONDERFUL MEMORIES... not just of my mission, but of my family, too! MILLE GRAZIE e TANTE belle cose SEMPRE!!
ReplyDelete:) Sorella Gina Focosi, Italy Rome, 1980-81